Make You Love Me
by Six6OfHearts
Summary: Tino is working as a personal assistant for Berwald in his mansion to get a better education and Berwald needs to make Tino fall in love with him by the end of the year. Can the pair hold out when business and health issues complicate things? Loosely based off Beauty and the Beast, AU. Human names used. SuFin, DenNor, one sided EstFin, and Arthur the Angel.
1. Of New Employees and Cold Nights

Prologue~

~~oOo~~

_ "B't, Ah didn't mean t' cause ma brother's death!" a tall, good looking Swedish man wails in a last attempt to save himself. _

_ "But how could you not?" the angel, Arthur, retorts in a completely enraged tone. "You destroyed his business, married his wife…" he lists, gesturing his sleeping wife who looks to be about six months pregnant, "…and you made sure his son was enlisted in the army so he wouldn't have an heir!"_

_ Mr. Oxenstierna, clearly defeated, slumps his shoulders and falls to his knees, awaiting his punishment. _

_ Arthur, who is furious with this man for everything he did to cause his brother's death just so he could inherit the family fortune, decides not to bestow any forgiveness upon him. "Your wife will die in childbirth, and you will lose the mansion and be sent to live alone," he decrees. _

_ "No!" the man cries, at the brink of tears._

_ "And your son will be born with an absolutely terrifying appearance which will make it near impossible for him to find love."_

_ "Please! Don' take th's out on ma son!" he begs, looking up at the angel with pained eyes._

_ "Alright," Arthur hastily agrees, and revises his plan, only because his innocent son has done nothing. "He will not look like a monster, but he will seem very unapproachable to others." The English angel pauses for a moment before adding, "If your son can find love by the age of twenty five, you and your wife will be allowed eternal life together in heaven."  
Even though his punishment is still terrible and silent sobs wrack his body, they seem somewhat happy at the same time. Mr. Oxenstierna cries for a while like that, before he looks up to see Arthur gone. He wipes his eyes and makes his way back to bed with his sleeping wife and wraps his arms around her protectively, regretting his entire life. _

~~oOo~~

"But, Tino, you can't!" cries Eduard.

Tino sighs and replies tiredly, "Eduard, I've already told you, I want to do this!"

"But you can learn here!" the Estonian offers as his last resort to get his friend to stay.

"I've learned everything I can from the books here, and if I work for him, I can learn from his extensive private library," The Finn says as though he's repeated it many times, although he probably has.

Eduard sighs, knowing that he already lost the fight before it even began. The Estonian man sighs and pulls Tino into one last hug before letting him go, trying to hide the tears in his eyes.

Tino just smiles at him reassuringly as if to say, 'I'll be fine.' He then proceeds to pick up his two suitcases and starts down the walkway from Eduard's small house, turning at the end to place one suitcase on the ground and wave to his old friend.

Eduard smiles and waves in return, before going back inside to hope that nothing bad happens to his good friend.

~~oOo~~

Tino gulps and hesitantly reaches his hand up toward the heavy iron door knocker of the large castle-like stone mansion. After a moment of indecision, he finally sucks in his breath and pulls the handle back and drops it on the door with a loud _bang _the traditional three times.

The door creaks open to reveal a man who's about as tall as himself, and with a similar tone of blonde hair.

"A-Ah, hello!" Tino stammers, not sure of how to start off their impending conversation.

"Hello," the man replies with a slight smirk as he leans lightly against the open door.

"U-Um, my name is Tino Vainamoinen, and I'm here to fill the personal assistant job!" he announces nervously, already wondering what he has gotten himself into.

"I think I'll just call you Tino,' he says, and it happens too quickly to be sure, but Tino is almost sure he winks at him. "My name's Lukas. Come on, I'll show you around," he offers as he starts to walk away, gesturing for Tino to follow.

"So, Tino, why exactly do you want to work here?" Lukas inquires as he leads him down the hallway.

"Well, honestly, I want to get a better education, and I guess I just wanted to do something different than stay in a small village my whole life."

"Well, not too much has happened recently around here, so Mathias and I are glad to have someone new here," he replies.

"Lukas!" someone calls from the kitchen, which Tino assumed to be Mathias.

Before he comes over to talk to them, Lukas says to Tino, "he's the cook, even though he's not the best."

"Then why is that his job?" Tino asks with confusion in his voice.

"I honestly don't trust him cleaning an expensive house like this… he'd probably break everything," he snickers, then adds, "Besides, I usually end up making the food anyway."

"Lukas!" Mathias calls again loudly. He comes up to the Norwegian and hugs him tightly from behind.

"Get off," Lukas commands him as though he's done it many times before, which by the looks of it, he probably has.

"Nope!" the Dane replies, nuzzling Lukas's blonde hair, which is also a similar color to his own.

"Mathias, I have to show Tino around the house," he sighs. "So get. The hell. Off me."

"Fine, fine," he says, giving him a mock sigh. "But you're being punished severely for this tonight," he announces with a wink before stalking off to make lunch.

Lukas shudders (in excitement or disgust, we will never know), then turns to Tino, who is blushing wildly, not sure how to deal with this situation. "Oh, sorry about that. Sadly, that excuse for a man is my… 'lover', I guess you would say."

"I heard that!" the Dane calls from the kitchen.

"Good! You were supposed to!"

To change this subject, which is making Tino feel very awkward, he asks quickly, "So, where will I be staying?"

With an amused smirk, the Norwegian man looks at Tino from the corner of his eye and says, "Well, you haven't got the job yet, have you?"

~~oOo~~

"Now, he may look a little... scary at first, but Mr. Oxenstierna wouldn't hurt a fly. …Well, he wouldn't hurt you. Whatever, just don't be scared, I mean, he's only twenty four," Lukas explains as they stand near the door to his office, just out of earshot.

Tino, more nervous than before, nods to Lukas and gulps before pushing open the heavy wooden double doors, and is temporarily blinded by the light pouring through the wide windows in the office room.

Along the back wall of the room is an elaborate wooden fireplace which is stained a dark brown. On the walls to Tino's right and left are shelves totally filled with books that take up the whole wall which almost makes Tino faint from excitement. And at the center of the room is a huge, aged, mahogany desk sits proudly, and a padded leather chair is placed behind it, which is occupied by one of the scariest people the Finn has ever seen.

"A-Ah, hello!" Tino exclaims nervously while hesitantly walking toward the desk. "M-My name is Tino Vainamoinen, and I'm here to fill the personal assistant position!"

The man responds with seemingly almost no consideration. "Ja. Ya c'n h've i'." he responds simply with a deep voice which is heavily laced with a Swedish accent.

"R-Really? Ah, thank you so much, Mr. Oxenstierna!" Tino says joyfully, thanking the man exuberantly. This was so much better than he could ever hope for!

"C'll me B'rwald," he instructs, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly as if he was trying to smile but couldn't.

"Okay… Berwald," he replies, testing the name out on his tongue. Berwald seems satisfied with this and nods simply.

As Lukas leads him out of the office to show him his living quarters, he waits until they're out of earshot to whisper, "Wow, he must really like you!"  
"Really? It didn't seem like he did at all," Tino wonders, seeming totally confused by Lukas's comment.

Lukas laughs as he seemingly does not know much about Berwald. "I've known him for years and he still won't let me call him anything but Mr. Oxenstierna."

Tino also looks confused at this, and Lukas continues to laugh, clearly seeing something that Tino doesn't. He decides to just shake it off, and when the two of them stop at a room with a closed door, he asks, "Is this going to be my room?"

"Yes, it is," he replies matter-of-factly. Lukas proceeds to open the door to reveal a large bed with four posts and a canopy, accompanied by a tall dresser, a vanity with a mirror, a desk for work, and a small nightstand.

"Wow! This is beautiful!" Tino exclaims, shocked at the grandeur of the room. Honestly, the room is about how big the small cottage he shared with Eduard was. Suddenly he remembers about how long he'll be away from Eduard, and remorse fills him. In a more quiet tone he asks, "When will I receive my paperwork?"

"I'll drop it off tomorrow morning," the Norwegian replies before adding, "Goodnight, Tino."

"Goodnight Lukas!" Tino replies happily, having seemingly forgotten about Eduard for the time being.

Tino finds his suitcases already on his bed, so he changes into his pajamas and hops into the bed, trying to warm up the blankets with his body heat. Eventually he falls asleep, proud of his accomplishments today.

~~oOo~~

Suddenly, Tino wakes up in the middle of the night, shivering uncontrollably. Unsure of what to do, he gets up and leaves his room, attempting to find the kitchen so he can make himself something hot to warm him up. This plan fails, however, so he attempts to make his way back, but in the near-complete darkness, it's proving to be totally impossible as he continues on down the endless hallways. Finally he opens a door to see if there's an empty bed he can try to fall asleep in.

But to his complete and utter shock, this room is not empty. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

He squeaks when he realizes that it's his new employer and begins fumbling for the doorknob to run out of the room.

The Swedish man yawns and reaches for his glasses on the nightstand and puts them on, but even then it's hard to see him. "Tino?" he asks as the moon breaks through the clouds and sheds minimal light into the room through the window.

"Mr. Oxenstierna?" he asks meekly.

"B'rwald," he corrects him. "Why are ya up?"

"U-um, it was cold out, and I wanted to make something hot to keep me warm..." he stutters nervously.

Berwald just nods and reaches for Tino's hand. Once he's grasped his smaller hand in his own larger one, he gently pulls Tino onto his bed.

Tino is too stunned to fully understand the situation until Berwald takes off his glasses and reaches over Tino and places them on the nightstand, then wraps his arm around him.

"'re ya w'rm now?" the Swede asks in his deep voice.

Tino is now extremely nervous, not to mention confused. "Y-yeah," he responds quietly, noticing that the addition of Berwald's body heat did, in fact, make him much warmer.

"Okej. G'night."

"G-Good night… Berwald."

Tino falls asleep quite promptly as sleeping with him is very warm, and surprisingly quite comforting_. _Berwald, however, takes a bit longer to fall asleep, because for some reason, he can't stop thinking about the way Tino's hand fit perfectly into his, and the way his much smaller body did the same.

~~oOo~~

Tino yawns as the sunlight pouring through the window rouses him and attempts to sit up, but is stopped by the arm of a still sleeping Berwald. For a moment he has no idea what's going on and why he's here, sleeping with his boss nonetheless. But suddenly the memories of last night rush back to him. He sighs in relief gently pushes his employer's arm off of him, and checking to make sure he's still asleep, places a brief kiss on his cheek and leaves, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Unfortunately for Tino, Berwald had just woken up at the exact moment he had kissed his cheek, and as he watched Tino leave, his cheeks became dusted pink and his heartbeat picked up slightly.

Tino, now able to see where he's going in the daylight, makes it back to his room quickly.

When he opens the door, he sees a clean stack of paperwork on his wooden desk and sighs slightly, having to remind himself that he'll get to finally educate himself and get a job far away here.

He changes quickly into his usual clothing, and sits down at his desk to tackle the paperwork, which turns out to be dealing with finances. He works diligently for about two hours, only motivated by the books waiting for him in his boss's office, and even in the whole library.

"Morning!" Mathias calls, opening Tino's door. "Brought you breakfast."

"Thanks!" Tino exclaims, taking the plate from him to reveal something that looks Danish, but it could be Norwegian. Either way, it looks delicious, so he tries it, and it turns out to be really good.

"So, I heard you slept with the boss," Mathias snickers, his usual smirk intensified.

"N-No!" Tino exclaims, embarrassed by the way he phrased it. "I mean, yes, but we didn't _do_ anything. I just got cold, and I went to look for the kitchen, and next thing I knew, he just pulled me into his bed!"

"Hm, who would have thought good old Ber' would actually fall for someone," he says, a faint genuine smile overlapping his amused smirk.

"P-Please, he didn't 'fall for me'," Tino protests. "I was just cold, and he was just being a good person."

"Okay, whatever you say," he answers sarcastically. "Well as fun as this was, I'm going to go find Lukas," he announces, smiling in a way that makes Tino sure that he's completely in love with the Norwegian.

This arouses a smile on his own face, and he finishes the paperwork quickly, all the while thinking about how nice it would be to find something like that for himself. Finally he finishes, so he neatly stacks the papers and picks them up carefully, being careful not to drop the heavy pile.

He slowly makes his way to Berwald's office, and pushes the wooden door open slowly. When he notices that the office is unoccupied, he walks in more confidently and gingerly places the pile on his desk, then begins to leave, but not before he notices his huge array of books. He cautiously inches toward them, and takes one off the shelf his eyes gleaming in excitement.

"Tino?" a deep, smooth voice asks from the doorway.

"Ahh!" Tino screams in a bit more of a girly way than he would have liked and dropped the book, creating a soft thud from the impact on the carpeted floor. "S-Sorry! I dropped off my papers, and I kind of got distracted," he explains nervously.

"'S okej," he responds simply and sits down at his desk, glancing up at Tino as he runs out of the office, clearly relieved.

"You know you only have a year left, right?" he hears a voice ask.

The Swede turns to his right to see Arthur, leaning against the mahogany desk.

"Ja, Ah know," he says, getting annoyed with the angel's visits, which have become more frequent lately.

"I don't think you realize how short that is," the British angel reminds him.

He sighs, becoming exasperated and repeats his previous reply, "Ja, Ah know."

"That boy…" Arthur mentions, gesturing toward the door where Tino just exited. "…you like him, don't you?"

"Ah don' know," he replies noncommittally, when in fact, he does. He remembers walking through town and seeing a younger Tino shopping with a friend. Berwald was smitten that day, and decided that he would make the Finn his wife.

"Yes, you do."

"Ja, Ah guess," he agrees, realizing that he really can't hide it from anyone, much less an angel who is probably reading his thoughts right now.

"This isn't going to be easy, Berwald. I can already tell that he's very skittish about being around you," Arthur grumbles, also becoming exhausted with trying to get Berwald to be friendlier toward the boy. He sure as bloody hell hadn't planned on him being a half mute when he picked the age limit for finding love.

Berwald sighs, as he's also aware of this fact. "Ah know… Ah just don' want ta scare 'im."

"Bloody hell, Berwald! Just be friendly! I'll check on you again in a month," he announces, to Berwald's chagrin. The Swedish man sighs and stands up, stretching his sore muscles. He hoped it wouldn't be as hard to get the Finnish man to love him back as Arthur said. After all, he had received a kiss on the cheek. He kept trying to convince himself it was more than just gratitude that had instigated that notion, but he was failing. Would he be able to save his parents? But more than that, would he be able to woo the boy he had watched and fallen for two and a half years?

~~oOo~~

**A/N: Hello there! I've really wanted to do a SuFin fanfic for a while; they're one of my favorite pairings!  
This story is based off a fairytale, digital bottle of nutella to anyone who can guess which one!  
Haha I'm seriously loving Arthur as the angel XDD**

**Anyway, I know it's a bit weird to have Denmark as one of Sweden's staff since it's usually the other way around, but I needed to do it to fit the plot. (Wow, I actually have a plot? That's a first.)**

**I know most people make the epilogue a separate chapter, but it drives me nuts when people do that and then Chapter 1 is actually Chapter 2, and it's just maddening. MADNESS I TELL YOU! (No, Sparta XD) Haha nah, it's not that big of a deal, it doesn't affect my love for a story, I just don't want it on one of mine. Okie, well after I post this, I'll be working on Chapter 6 of Falling… got any plot suggestions for that one?  
Kay, Love ya!**

**-Alison**


	2. Of Labyrinths and Thunderstorms

Tino exhales and stretches his arms over his head, then after a moment to wake himself up, he heaves himself off the old red leather arm chair, followed by a poof of dust.

Stupid, do you want to lose your job on the first day? Tino thinks to himself. Sighing, he returns an old, faded book to one of the shelves in a library he had stumbled upon when he had finished his day's paperwork. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to stay awake long enough to pick up anything from the book.

For the past week the Finn had been finishing his paperwork before lunch time, and he had usually found enough time to wander the mansion, which had actually proven to be more interesting than one would expect.

Slowly, Tino ambles through the maze of shelves in the library, attempting to figure out something to do with the rest of his day, when he hears two people talking in an open space dedicated to reading in between the rows of shelves that he was just about to enter. He stops immediately and presses his back against the nearest bookshelf, trying to be as invisible as possible.

I thought no one knew about this place! Except for… Tino's thoughts are cut off when a quiet, deep voice that could only belong to one person; Berwald. "Ah'm s'rry."

"Sorry isn't going to help you, Berwald!" a loud, exasperated voice yells in a British accent. "Why haven't you talked to him at all in the past week?"

"Ah just… he's… w'll, he d'sn't w'nt to t'lk to me," the Swede stutters, sounding nervous.

Aw, how cute! Tino thinks to himself, resisting the urge to giggle. He had no idea that behind Berwald's intimidating demeanor, he actually experienced the same emotions as everyone else. Suddenly, the Finnish man is horrified that he thought of his boss as someone with no human emotions, but he doesn't have enough time to wallow in this feeling because the conversation is already continuing.

"Yes, he does! Berwald, I'm not going to help you if you're not going to do anything!"

Sighing, Berwald pauses for a long moment, then offers, "Ah th'nk… Ah'll go t'lk to him now."

"Good! Finally, you're taking some action!"

"Ah guess ah sh'ld go f'nd 'im," the Swedish man replies, a nervousness lacing his deep voice.

"Why don't you start by turning that corner?" the British voice suggests in a tone that makes Tino sure that he knows that he's been here all along. And Tino has no doubt that said corner is the shelf he's hiding behind.

Berwald, sounding puzzled by this idea just says blankly, "M'ybe he's eatin' l'nch."

"Yes, maybe," the voice responds, sounding amused.

Tino hears footsteps leading away from the library, and after waiting a good ten minutes, he decides the coast is clear, so he hurries toward the door of the library. Remembering that Berwald was going to see if he was eating lunch, he decides to do just that.

Now, where do I go from here? Tino asks himself once he's out in the carpeted hallway. Eventually he just decides to wing it and take a left. Surprisingly, he ends up arriving at the kitchen after blindly deciding between lefts and rights.

"Tino!" a loud voice calls from the kitchen. "Want some lunch?" asks none other than Mathias.

"Sure!" he responds, smiling warmly at the Dane.

"Alright, here you go," Mathias announces, walking toward Tino with a plate in his hand, and hitting his head on one of the brass pots hanging from the ceiling by the handle. "Ow!"

Lukas snickers from the other entrance to the kitchen, having arrived just in time to witness Mathias's little stunt. He takes the plate from the Danish man and hands it to Tino while Mathias rubs his head. "Remind me again why I picked you of all people," Lukas says to his lover over his shoulder.

"Because you love me?"

"Doubtful."

Tino laughs to himself as he leaves the kitchen, still hearing them bicker behind him. He is still listening to their argument when suddenly it stops, and he starts to hear sounds that can only belong to two people kissing each other… and liking it a lot.

I-I probably shouldn't stay to hear this, he thinks. Blushing in embarrassment, he walks more quickly from the kitchen, but doesn't run in fear of dropping all of his food and having to go back there and ask for more.

He quickly settles on opening a door to his left, as the noises from the kitchen have become a bit more erotic, making Tino's face turn a light red color. When the thick, wooden door closes behind him, the sounds from inside are silenced, but that's not all Tino notices. In front of him is a beautiful garden that nearly takes his breath away. Tall, gnarled trees create a canopy of leaves over hundreds of different kinds of flowers, and an old stone path winds its way through them, and stops at a large stone labyrinth.

The only word that comes to his mind is 'wow', and almost in a daze, the Finn feels his feet slowly taking him into the old, slightly crumbling stone maze. The sounds of leaves rustling and little birds chirping suddenly stop as he enters the labyrinth, which just adds to the overall peaceful feeling. When he reaches the center, a simple stone bench sits in the middle, which Tino decides to sit down on.

In a flash, he snaps out of his daze and remembers his lunch, which he begins to slowly eat. But little does he know that he did not enter the labyrinth alone.

Berwald stands behind the last wall, hiding himself from Tino's view. Taking deep breaths to calm himself, he steps out into the clearing, already regretting it as soon as he does.

Tino looks up at him in surprise, and says happily, "Hello… Berwald!" He struggles with saying Berwald, as he finds it a bit awkward to call his boss by a personal name, but he forces himself to do it nonetheless.

"Hej," Berwald replies quietly, his face contorting into an expression that only to Berwald himself is embarrassed, but looks terrifying to anyone else. The only way it could be differed from a truly angry face is the light pink dusting his cheeks.

"Would you like to eat lunch with me?" Tino asks, gesturing to the plate in his employer's hand. He tries to ignore the expression on his face, but in all honesty it's kind of scaring him. He mentally slaps himself for thinking that about

"Ja," he replies quietly, the expression on his face intensifying. He gently sits down next to Tino, creating the biggest gap he can between the two of them.

Tino takes note of this, and decides to shift his body over a bit so that their arms are just barely touching. He isn't positive what compelled him to do it, but this position feels much less awkward somehow.

The Swede also seems to notice how much more natural this feels, and he relaxes a bit, even though he's still just as embarrassed about sitting this close to his object of affection.

"S-so Berwald, did your family build all this?" Tino asks, looking up at the trees that are gently swaying over the stone maze.

"Ja, ma gr'ndf'ther did," he tells Tino, his voice making him sound much more sure of himself than a few minutes ago.

"It's beautiful," Tino sighs. "I really like it here; this house is so nice. Although I'd like to get out some times, maybe go down to the market" he tells Berwald without thinking. He closes his mouth suddenly, embarrassed at telling his boss that.

"Would ya l'ke t' go th're t'day?" Berwald asks, not taking the comment as offence, but taking it as a chance to get to know the smaller Finnish man better.

Tino's eyes light up at the idea, and he nods childishly. Slightly ashamed at his behavior, he tries to appear less excited, but his eyes still gleam in anticipation.

"We'll go t'day th'n," he offers. He notices that Tino is done with his lunch, so he takes his empty plate and stacks it on top of his own. The Swede silently stands up and offers his hand to Tino.

Tino takes his boss's hand and pulls himself up with it. He smiles at Berwald, and the two of them walk back toward the house, never having released each other's hands.

~~oOo~~

Tino lets out a small gasp as he takes in the intricate tapestries hanging from wooden dowels. "They're so beautiful!" he exclaims quietly.

"Ja, th'y are," Berwald responds in his quiet, deep voice from behind Tino, who is not observing the cloth for sale, but is discreetly observing the Finnish man standing in front of him.

The shop owner smiles at Tino, then gasps in recognition at the sight of Berwald, who owns the entire fishing industry of the village. "A-Ah, h-hello Mr. Oxenstierna!" the man stutters, bowing slightly to him.

"Hej," he responds in his native language, nodding his head to the shop owner.

Tino doesn't notice this exchange as his eye has been caught by a beautiful piece of fabric. It's made of many different shades of blue and purple, and it depicts an ocean at sunset.

"Wh'ch one would ya l'ke?" Berwald asks Tino quietly, leaning down to say it in his ear.

Tino blushes and replies, "Y-You don't have to buy me anything!" Berwald, however, pays no heed to this response and walks over to the shop owner and purchases the long blue and purple tapestry for Tino.

"T-Thank you so much!" he exclaims, admiring the fabric which he has folded over his arm.

"No pr'blem," Berwald answers quietly, his lips twitching into a slight smile, which for the Swedish man, is a full-on grin.

Suddenly, the wind starts to pick up, and upon looking into the sky, dark clouds are quickly moving toward them. Oh no, Tino thinks. The shop owners have already started to clear away their items and are moving them into the stores.

The first drops of water start to fall, and in the distance, Tino hears thunder. Shaking nervously, he looks around wildly for shelter.

Berwald notices the Finn's urgency, so he grabs his hand and runs with him. He leads Tino down a worn dirt road, picking up the pace as the rain starts to become heavier. He finally leads him to an old church that he used to visit as a hideout when he was younger as the raindrops start to pour down on their heads. Once under the shelter, Berwald's shoulders slump in relief as the storm rages outside them. However, Tino just seems to be more on edge.

Berwald, unsure of what to do, sits down on the ground and pulls Tino down next to him, not sure if this is going to help at all.

A loud burst of thunder claps outside, and Tino jumps into Berwald's lap, shaking like a leaf. He wraps his arms around the Swede's torso and buries his face into the crook of his neck, his shaking slowly subsiding. The thunder keeps rumbling on, and Tino's mind is so laced with fear that he doesn't even realize the position he and his boss are in.

Berwald blushes bright red, and is suddenly thankful for the darkness, which is doing an excellent job at concealing his mortified facial expression. After a few minutes of this, he finally hesitantly wraps his arms around the shaking Finn, who seems to relax a bit under his touch. Berwald hopes that Tino can't hear his heart, which is pounding faster than he ever thought it could.

Finally, the thunder ceases, and Tino's mind flutters back to reality. He pushes himself off Berwald, and his eyes widen in shock and embarrassment. He pulls away so that he and Berwald's noses are almost touching, and both are looking at each other with equally as red, blushing faces.

"A-Ah! S-Sorry!" Tino squeaks, scrambling to try and get off of his employer, positive that he's going to lose his job now.

"S'okej," the taller blonde whispers, pulling Tino back down into an embrace. Not even thinking of what he's doing, Berwald's lips brush over the Finn's forehead so lightly it could even be taken as a mistake, and then buries his face in Tino's blonde hair.

Blushing even brighter now, Tino hugs Berwald back and relaxes into the embrace. Slowly, he falls asleep in his employer's arms, feeling safer than he has in a while.

Berwald lets Tino sleep on him for a while as he waits for the storm to pass, and when the coast is all clear, he separates the two of them and lifts Tino up bridal style.

Berwald blushes in embarrassment when Tino automatically clasps his hands around the Swede's neck and nuzzles his face into his chest. Berwald's heartbeat picks up, and he pushes open the church doors with his back so as not to disturb Tino, and steps out into the surprisingly peaceful night air. He slowly makes his way back toward his mansion, pausing to look down often, just to make sure that it's not a dream, and that Tino is still there.

Finally he reaches his large house and carries a sleeping Tino up into his bedroom. Berwald is about to place Tino on his bed and go back to his own room, but he can't bring himself to do it, so he brings them both to his room.

Berwald pulls back the covers and gently rests Tino on his bed, then climbs in with him. He's nervous about touching Tino, so he carefully inches away from him, only to have Tino latch onto him and cuddle with the Swede. Blushing, the tall blonde hugs the smaller man back, and gradually falls asleep with his face buried in Tino's hair.

~~oOo~~

Tino yawns and opens his eyes lazily, only to be greeted by the sight of a sleeping Berwald with his arms around him. He is genuinely baffled for a moment, but then the events of last night come back to him, and he smiles at how sweet Berwald was last night, and continues to snuggle with him. He closes his eyes again, awake, but relaxing in the Swede's arms.

Eventually Berwald wakes up to Tino still in his arms and he sighs gratefully, glad that it wasn't just a dream, which is something he had been worrying about all night, only to open his eyes and find Tino still there.

Tino opens his eyes when he notices that Berwald is up, and smiles tiredly at him. "G'morning, Berwald,"

"M'rnin'" Berwald replies, feeling happier than he had in ages.

"Want to go get breakfast with me?" Tino asks happily. He sits up and stretches his arms, and Berwald follows suit.

"Ja," he replies, getting out of bed, and offering his hand to Tino to help him do the same.

The two walk down the hallway to the kitchen in a comfortable silence, the sleeves of their shirts brushing against each other with every step they take.

When they enter the kitchen, Mathias looks at the two of them, wearing the same clothes from yesterday with bedhead, and smirks. "Hey, Lukas! I told you these two were going to do it!"

Tino looks confused for a moment, before he realizes what the Dane is referring to. Waving his hands around pathetically, he stutters, "Wh-what? N-No! We didn't! I-It's not what it looks like!"

Berwald just shrugs helplessly, and though he'd never admit it to anyone, he wouldn't mind if they had done what Mathias suggested.

"Well, I'm guessing you two want some breakfast?" Lukas asks, smirking at Tino to embarrass him anymore. Tino opens his mouth to protest, but Lukas stops him, "Yeah, I know you didn't do anything. Don't worry." He walks over to the two of them and hands them both a plate.

"Oh, Berwald!" The Norwegian calls out as Tino and Berwald walk toward the dining hall. "I finally found my little brother Emil! Would you mind hiring him to work on cleaning the house with me?" he asks hopefully. "Come on out Emil!" he calls behind his shoulder.

A grumpy, tired looking boy with silver hair and purple eyes enters the kitchen from the back door. "Hi," he says simply.

Berwald's eyes scan over him, and finally he agrees, "Ja."

Tino looks up at the Swede in admiration as they leave the kitchen. "That was so nice, Berwald!"

"…Th'nks," he mutters, embarrassed at Tino's reaction. Behind them, they can hear Lukas giving Emil the usual tour around the mansion. "W'll… I h've s'me p'perw'rk to do… so Ah'll see ya l'ter," he announces, regretting having to leave Tino after all the progress he's made.

"Oh! That's okay!" Tino replies, hiding his disappointment. He himself can't figure out why this upsets him, but he shrugs it off and goes off to eat alone in the dining hall while Berwald walks up to his office.

~~oOo~~

Berwald sighs and sits down in his office chair, mentally and physically exhausted.

"You did much better than I thought you would," a familiar voice comments in a British accent.

"Ah did?" Berwald asks, dumbfounded.

"Yes. Something tells me Tino is starting to like being around you," Arthur mentions, his tone of voice stating that he clearly knows something Berwald doesn't.

Wh't do ya mean?" the Swede asks, clearly baffled.

"Let's just say… why don't you hurry back down stairs and finish off your breakfast with Mr. Vainamoinen?" Arthur says in an amused tone of voice.

"Ah… Ah already t'ld 'im th't Ah h'd w'rk to do," Berwald reminds Arthur, positive that he already knew this tidbit of information.

"Sure you did… but I think he'd be pleasantly surprised if you did."

"But…"

"Bloody hell, Berwald! Just hurry down there or you're going to miss it!" And with that, Berwald grabs his plate and hurried down the hallway to his precious Tino.

~~oOo~~

**A/N: Crappy second chapter is crappy…**

**Sorry about this fail DX Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! I'm having so much fun writing SuFin, I just love this couple X3 **

**Anyway, I haven't officially moved yet because the damn mortgage company postponed it 2 days, but the people we bought the house from said we could unload our furniture and stuff into the house, because they've already moved out, so yay!  
Okie dokie,**

**Have a lovely week my little pygmy puffs!**

**-Alison**


	3. Of Spice Cakes and Intertwined Fingers

~~oOo~~

"Hey, Tino," Lukas says, sitting down next to Tino at the long dinner table. "I brought you lunch."

"Thanks Lukas," Tino responds, sighing. He couldn't help feeling down today. It was Eduard's birthday, and he was missing it. Tino never missed Eduard's birthday, even when he was sick. Even though Tino couldn't cook very well, he always made Eduard a cake… or bought one… but that was beside the point. The point was, he always did something, and this year he couldn't, and it was making him feel like a terrible person.

"Something wrong?" Lukas asks, looking at Tino as if he'll force the answer out of him if he has to.

"Well, actually-" Tino begins, but is cut off by a loud crash from the kitchen.

Lukas sighs and walks over to the kitchen, calling, "Emil! What did I tell you about helping Mathias in the kitchen?"

Tino also stands up to see what just happened, and upon entering, he discovers Mathias and Emil sitting on the floor with broken glass sprinkling the floor.

Lukas just sighs and grabs a broom from a closet to his right, then tosses it to Mathias. "Clean that up." He grabs Tino and leaves the room, muttering about what an idiot his boyfriend is, which amuses Tino. They have the most interesting relationship Tino has ever witnessed, and he likes watching the two of them interact. Not that he would say it out loud, because that's not exactly the way to keep a friend you just made, but still, he does.

"So, what exactly were you-" Lukas is cut off by another loud bang in the kitchen, and runs over there yelling, "Mathias! I _know _that was you!"

Tino just smiles and walks away from the kitchen, having completely forgotten about eating breakfast in the first place. He walks along the hallway sadly, staring at the carpet, when suddenly he slams into a tall male.

"A-Ah! Berwald! I'm sorry," Tino apologizes nervously, still slightly afraid of Berwald's frightening physical appearance. Even though he's proven to be quite normal, if not a bit quiet, over the past few weeks, his facial expressions make him seem angry all the time, and Tino doesn't deal well with people being upset with him.

"Did Ah h'rt ya?" Berwald asks, looking Tino over for any injuries.

"No! I'm fine!" he responds, laughing for the first time today at Berwald's worried expression.

But the laughter goes away as quickly as it came, and Tino reverts back to his depressed state. Berwald is a bit flustered at the situation, as he's usually not very good at comforting people, and he nervously spits out, "Ah… is s'meth'ng wr'ng?"

"Oh! No, I-I'm fine," Tino stammers as he waves goodbye to Berwald and heads off in the opposite direction, toward his room.

Berwald has absolutely no idea what to make of this situation and watches Tino until he is out of sight.

"Berwald!" Arthur calls from behind the Swede, looking very impatient.

"Why 're ya h're?" Berwald asks, looking around for any sign of Mathias, Lukas, or his little brother… Emil, was it?

"Go talk to Tino."

"B't Ah j'st…" the Swedish man answers, trying to explain that he just had a conversation with the Finn, but it appears that Arthur already knows this.

"Do I really need to repeat myself?"

Berwald just shakes his head and goes off to follow his blonde employee.

~~oOo~~

Tino sits at the desk in his room, finishing his accounting work for Berwald. The work was tedious, but he was good at it, and managed to get it done fairly quickly every day. However, today this frustrated him, because as soon as he was finished, he would have the rest of the day to think about how Eduard was spending his birthday alone, just because Tino wanted a job.

Tino liked to be hard on himself for things he couldn't help. True, he could have asked Berwald for the day off, but he felt like his boss was far too nice already to take advantage of him like that.-

"Hej," comes a deep voice from the doorway.

"Oh, hei!" Tino answers as he looks up at Berwald, startled from being woken from his deep thought.

"Is… is s'meth'ng wr'ng?" he asks as he awkwardly leans against the doorframe, looking very uncomfortable in this situation. "Ya seem… ups't."

"Well… it's not really a big deal," Tino explains, trying to seem happier than he actually is.

"Ya d'n't h've to t'll me if ya d'n't w'nt to… Ah w's j'st… w'rried," he tells him, looking even more uncomfortable with a barely distinguishable blush forming on his cheeks.

Tino feels reassured by Berwald's awkward, yet sincere words and gives in. "Well… actually, it's my friend Eduard's birthday. I always get him a cake and celebrate with him… but this year I can't…" Saying it out loud makes him even more upset, and his facial expression goes from a bit melancholy to completely miserable.

"Ya could h've j'st asked f'r the d'y off…" the Swede suggests, wondering why Tino didn't think of this himself.

Looking down nervously, Tino responds, "No, I couldn't do that. You do enough for me already."

This seems to make Berwald even more uncomfortable, and too looks down at the ground, unsure of what to say. Suddenly, he is struck with an idea. "C'me w'th me…"

~~oOo~~

"Wh'ch one do ya w'nt to m'ke?" the Swede asks as Tino flips through a huge cookbook in the kitchen.

"You're sure you want to help me make this?" the Finnish man asks nervously, still unsure about Berwald's whole idea.

"'f course… Ah wouldn't s'ggest it to ya if Ah d'dn't w'nt to," he reassures Tino for the third or fourth time. Tino smiles at this, which makes Berwald look slightly flustered, and then continues looking through the cook book.

The Finn's face lights up when he sees a delicious looking spice cake with cream cheese frosting in the book. Wow, this would be perfect for Eduard, he thinks to himself. Eduard has always loved cream cheese frosting, especially on the ones Tino gave him for his birthday (hey, he didn't have to know that Tino always bought his cake). "I found one!" Tino exclaims, pointing to the picture.

"Okej, we'll m'ke it," he states simply, starting to get the ingredients out of the cupboard.

Tino has to hold back from asking, 'Really?', because he doesn't want to make it seem like he doubts Berwald any more than he has so far. He watches Berwald search around for ingredients for a few moments, and then all at once he realizes he hasn't done anything yet. "Ah! What should I do?" he asks, searching the list of ingredients for something Berwald hasn't pulled out yet.

"Why d'n't ya g't a b'wl and s'me meas'ring c'ps," he suggests. Tino accepts this as something he can do successfully, and searches the cabinets for them. After a few minutes of searching for the desired objects, the Finn successfully pulls out a bowl and some measuring cups and smiles at his work, only to find that Berwald has already located a bowl, and is currently cracking eggs into it.

He sighs at his own uselessness and places the bowls on the counter. Berwald seems to notice his displeasure, and tells him, "Why d'n't you meas're the flour?

Tino nods enthusiastically. He can do this, right? It couldn't be _that _hard. He smiles at this sudden burst of confidence, and pulls out a measuring cup. The recipe said two cups of flour… was that right? It seemed like a lot.

He shrugs to himself and scoops one cup out of the large bag of flour, and hesitantly dumps it into an empty stainless steel bowl. Hey, he was doing it! Measuring flour wasn't hard, he thinks to himself as he pours the second cup into the bowl.

"N'w ya c'n br'ng th't ov'r h're," Tino's employer tells him as he mixes the rest of the ingredients together.

"Okei!" he replies, and picks up the large silver bowl filled with the white powder. He feels so accomplished, having not done anything to screw it up.

However, as soon as he thinks this, he slips on a bit of egg white that dripped onto the floor, which sends the bowl of flour flying into the air, showering the two of them in flour.

Tino's mouth opens in horror and his face burns bright red in embarrassment. It's a wonder I haven't been fired yet, he thinks to himself as he covers his mortified face. The Finn blindly waits for his boss to yell at him, but he hears dead silence, which somehow frightens him even more. After a moment more of waiting, Tino slowly removes his hands from his eyes, and is completely shocked by what he sees.

Berwald's face is unusually close to Tino's, but that's not what shocks him the most. For once, Berwald is actually smiling! Given, it's not a very big smile, but the Swede looks truly happy for once. This immediately makes Tino's face break out in a wide grin.

"Ya h've s'me flour 'n yer eyebr'w," Berwald tells him as he gently wipes the white powder off the Finn's brow. At this action, Tino begins to giggle, and Berwald's smile widens ever so slightly.

"And _you_ have flour on _your_ eyebrow," Tino replies, and does the same to the Swede, who at the moment doesn't seem too much like his boss (not that he really ever did).

"I guess I should measure some more out, then," Tino tells Berwald in a bit more quiet voice, still looking into Berwald's very blue eyes.

"Ja," he replies just as quietly. The two stood there quietly and covered in flour, looking into each other's eyes, and suddenly Tino feels like he's in a cliché romance movie where you're just waiting for the two people to kiss.

This embarrasses him sufficiently, so he breaks eye contact and looks down nervously. He decides to walk over to where the bag of flour is, and he pulls out the correct measuring cup. He wasn't going to screw this up again. Then he'd really look like an idiot.

"Wh' d'n't Ah h'lp ya w'th th't," Berwald offers, coming up to stand behind Tino. He reaches his arms around the Finn and takes the measuring cup from him, and begins filling it up to the one cup mark.

Tino blushes slightly at the feeling of his body pressed up against the taller man's. Admittedly, Berwald wasn't ugly in the least.

In fact, now that he'd proven to be considerably less frightening than before, he was actually… _handsome. _Tino's eyes wandered up to Berwald curiously, as if wanting to see him in this new light. But Berwald's eyes meet his own as they travel up to study his features, and embarrassed, the Finn quickly redirects his gaze down to the now filled bowl of flour.

"Ah'll go f'n'sh up," Berwald tells him, and Tino just nods, his face still flushed. Why now of all times did he have to think his boss was attractive? There seemed to be a pretty good chance he was attracted to men, Tino thinks. He shakes the thought out of his head. He couldn't possibly fall in love with anyone. That would ruin everything he had planned for his future.

The two of them made the cake in total silence, but for Tino, the opposite was true in his mind. Hadn't he planned to marry Eduard at some point? True, he had never actually felt anything for him, but he planned to marry him nonetheless. Who else would he marry? Who else had feelings for him like that? No one… but now that he thought about it, spending the rest of his life married to someone he didn't even love seemed dismal at the least.

"Ah… T'no, 're ya ok'y?" Berwald asks, coming up behind him.

"Oh, fine! What do you need me too help you with?" Tino asks, looking around, only to spot a finished cake, artfully frosted with creamy white icing. "Oh… right."

"We 're g'ing t' g've your fr'end his c'ke soon, o'ky?" the Swede tells him, assuming that this is why he is acting so off-balance.

"Oh, no, I know! I just got a little distracted, is all," Tino assures him as Berwald, who nods, but still seems a bit unsure. He absentmindedly watches Berwald wrap up the cake. Life always throws you curveballs, he thought to himself.

~~oOo~~

"Should I go knock on the door?" Tino asks, nervously looking at his old home. Nostalgia rushed over him as he looked the old house over again. Maybe it wasn't the nicest… but it was beautiful in its own way, he thought.

"Ja," Berwald replies as he positions himself behind Tino as if he's afraid of Tino's friend seeing him.

Looking back toward the Swede for a second, he smiles hesitantly, then knocks on the door to his… well, Eduard's house.

He can hear Eduard fumbling around with the thick wooden door, which makes Tino laugh. Eduard always had problems with that old door, and Tino had to help him every single time.

Finally the Estonian manages to force open the door, and as soon as he sees who it is, his mouth drops open. "Happy Birthday, Eduard!" Tino exclaims, holding out the cake and smiling at his friend.

"Tino?" Eduard asks simply. After a moment of gaping at him, he runs up and pulls Tino into a huge hug.

"Don't squish the cake! We worked all day on it," Tino tells him, laughing joyously at being reunited with Eduard.

"We?" Eduard asks, pulling away from Tino with confusion and a hint of what almost looks like hurt. This confuses the Finn a bit, but he decides to overlook it for the time being.

"Y-Yeah… Ber- Mr. Oxenstierna and I," Tino replies, having to hold back from saying sarcastically, 'I hope that's alright with you.' He felt some horror at this thought; he never felt the urge to display that kind of behavior. But something for some reason feeling like he shouldn't act so casual about their employer-employee relationship around Eduard.

The Finn steps aside to show Eduard his Swedish boss, who is awkwardly standing about ten feet behind Tino, and looks up to the Estonian, looking as if he's at a complete lack of words. Tino looks at Berwald for a moment, thinking at how cute his awkward expression looks, but this thought shocks him, and he turns back to Eduard, his face flushed.

Eduard hisses in Tino's ear, "My god, Tino! He's so scary! Is he… doing anything to you?"

Tino gasps and wrenches himself away from the Estonian. "How could you even say something like that?" he asks quietly, venom leaking into his voice. He usually never felt this anger… but it made him so mad when Eduard said something like that about his… his… Berwald? No… they weren't in any kind of relationship other than the aforementioned employer-employee type. This made him feel let down somehow, but his anger with his friend did not subside.

Almost whispering, he holds out the cake and tells him, "All I wanted was to wish you a happy birthday. Here."

Eduard takes it and stares blankly at Tino, clearly not understanding why what he said was so wrong.

Tino turns around and walks toward Berwald, and then past him and onto the cobblestone street. Berwald takes the initiative to follow him, sparing one last glance at Eduard. Berwald didn't hear what Eduard said to Tino, but whatever it was, it made his (or at least he liked to call him his) Finn very upset, and the Swede didn't like that one bit.

The two of them walk in total silence until the small house has long disappeared behind them. Instead of walking directly back to the mansion, Tino had taken them on a scenic walk with a view of the ocean, and Berwald had willingly followed him. Even if he hadn't wanted to walk this way, he couldn't stand seeing Tino even more upset.

Tino's previous anger has subsided, but it has been replaced with sadness. Berwald looks down at Tino, who is staring at the dirt trail they're walking on, and tries to find words to say, but this train of thought is interrupted when he feels the Finn gently grasp his own hand in his.

"I don't know why he was acting like that to me…" Tino says, tears beading up at the corners of his eyes.

After a moment, Berwald tightens their loosely intertwined hands and asks hesitantly, "Wh't d'd he s'y to ya?"

Tino's breath hitches as he stifles his tears. "He said you looked scary… and then…" the Finn pauses and looks up to Berwald with a mix of fear and pain in his eyes. "He asked me if you were… you know, _doing things_ to me." At this, Tino uses his free hand to cover his face, ashamed at his friend's behavior.

Berwald has no idea what to say to this and just stares at Tino blankly. The only thing that comes to his mind is not offense at what his friend said, but happiness. Happiness because Tino was so upset because of _him._

Finally, he uncovers his face and looks up to Berwald with his hair whipped around by the ocean breeze. "But I want you to know… I don't think you're scary at all."

And at this, Berwald's heart skipped a beat.

~~oOo~~

**A/N: AHHHHH! TOO MUCH FLUFFINESS!**

**Haha this was difficult to focus on because there was just SO. MUCH. FLUFF.**

**Next time there will be fluff, but DEFINITELY more action!**

**Anyway, you would think that since I now live in Canada I'd start using the metric system. Merrr... I'm too lazy to adjust. XD**

**Haha thanks for reading, and sorry for shortness/crappiness**

**~Alison**


	4. Of Heartbeats and Tuxedos

~~oOo~~

Tino sits gingerly on the sofa in Berwald's study, a flickering happily next to him. He's most definitely grateful for the warmth, but he still can't help but feel like he's imposing on his boss, despite the day's previous events.

He wistfully reminds himself that Berwald is indeed his boss, and not to think of him on any personal level, no matter how much he would like to. As he thinks this, his body lets out an involuntary shiver, despite the dry clothes and fire crackling next to him.

This prompts him to remember just a few hours back, to when he and the aforementioned boss were walking along a cute little path along the ocean, coming back from a disastrous encounter with Tino's closest friend… or maybe not. Tino, being totally foolish had totally forgotten that the winds were picking up, and it would have been much more convenient to walk on the main road back to Berwald's estate, but he wanted to see the ocean. Maybe it wasn't so foolish after all; he didn't get to leave the large castle-like house much, with it being so far from the main town, and not easy to locate, but still, he most assuredly regretted that decision now.

The pair were walking along the path, Tino rambling on about something that most likely had nothing to with the situation at hand; Tino is very good at this kind of thing. Suddenly the wind picked up, but Tino had been flustered at the fact that Berwald was holding his hand in his much larger one. Tino blushes even at the memory of it, not quite sure why his boss was acting like this. Never mind that though, he refuses to think of Berwald as anything other than his employer… or at least he was going to try.

Long story short, the two were drenched by the time they reached Berwald's house, having been graced by the presence of another freak storm for the second time they had gone out of the house together.

Tino smiles at the way his shoulders still feel as though they're bearing weight from the memory of Berwald's arm around him, attempting to protect him from the downpour. Sighing almost inaudibly, he scoots backwards, snuggling into the corner of the back of the sofa and its arm as he waits for Berwald to return from whatever he was doing.

As if on cue, Tino looks up to see Berwald entering the room with a blanket folded over his arm and a steaming mug of something that made Tino's mouth water, despite not knowing what it was. He can already almost feel the warmth on his insides from the hot drink, which upon Berwald bringing it closer, is hot chocolate.

"Ah… Ah brought ya s'me h't ch'col'te," Berwald informs him somewhat shyly, presenting the mug to him hopefully. Tino smiles warmly at him so as to reassure him, inwardly 'Aw'-ing at Berwald's nervous manner. He somehow found the large man being shy and hopeful extremely cute, just because of how out of place it looked on his tall and muscular stature.

"Thank you~" Tino replies, taking the mug from him with both of his hands, the hot ceramic warming his freezing hands. This seems to satisfy Berwald, and he relaxes his previously tensed muscles. He looks as though he is about to leave, but then he remembers the fuzzy blanket draped over his arm.

"Oh… Ah 'lso brought ya th's…" he adds, a familiar, almost undetectable undertone of uncertainty tainting his voice. Tino sighs, not sure when Berwald will finally accept that Tino will not just shove him away. He would never do that… right?

Tino grins and assists Berwald in covering the blanket over himself, sighing lowly at the immediate warmth it provides. Berwald nods quickly and seeming to think he's out of place in this situation, he starts to leave.

His eyebrows furrowing in frustration at Berwald's shyness, Tino grabs his wrist as forcefully as a near-frozen, five-foot-seven Finn can, which compared to the Swede's strength, is not very much. Feeling confident in his grasp on Berwald's arm, he tugs him back toward the corner of the couch, and continues to tug his arm until Berwald is finally seated next to him on the couch.

Surprised, the Swede looks down into Tino's blue eyes, his own eyes silently asking why. Tino answers simply, smiling at Berwald happily, "Stay."

Tino could swear that a pink blush was now seeping into Berwald's cheeks, but it was so unnoticeable, that he couldn't be sure. The Swedish man pauses, analyzing Tino's face, or rather, memorizing each feature of it, and finally nods. The Finn's heart skips a beat at his cold, piercing blue eyes steadily taking him in, almost making him feel as though Berwald could see everything about him.

He finally tears his own eyes away from Berwald's face, and notices that the Swede is gingerly sitting on the edge of the sofa, keeping his distance from Tino himself. The Finn frowns at this, and places his right hand on Berwald's back, just under the muscle connecting his shoulder to his neck. Tino has to hold back the urge to gasp at how well-built he is. Unconsciously, he begins to rub Berwald's back, his cheeks flushing red at the unexpected movement from his hand. Even more to his surprise, Berwald lets out a low groan of content.

Despite being mortified, Tino realizes that the Swede's muscles are in fact, extremely tense. Sucking in a breath to steady himself, he shifts his right hand over to Berwald's other shoulder, and replaces its previous spot with his left. Habit taking over, he begins to rub the Swede's tensed muscles, gradually loosening them with skilled hands from lots of practice. Whenever Eduard would come home from work and was exhausted, Tino would always do this for him.

No, he wasn't going to think about Eduard now, especially after what he had done to Tino and his boss. He didn't feel like being upset right now, especially when he was trying to concentrate on giving Berwald a massage.

Wow, that was awkward sounding, he thinks to himself, suppressing the urge to giggle at the way he phrased that. Forcing his mind away from awkward thoughts, he concentrates on relieving the tension in Berwald's shoulders, which causes Berwald to let out a low sigh of content, feeling him relax almost instantaneously. He laughs silently and says, "You're pretty tense…"

"Mm…" Berwald agrees, his shoulders now slumped over in relaxation. "Y-yer.. good a' th's…" he tells Tino as he feels the Finn's hands move from his shoulders to the center of his back.

"Thank you," Tino replies happily, pressing lightly into his back with the heel of his palm. "I've had practice." He feels Berwald tense up again, though this time not from built-up stress, but from emotion. Tino felt himself subconsciously wishing it was jealousy, which immediately made his own face contort in confusion. Why would he want Berwald to be jealous? Tino shakes it off and continues to rub his back, working the returned tension out slowly. "I used to do this for Eduard when he came home from work and was stressed…" Tino explains, hoping this will quell whatever emotion Berwald was feeling.

Berwald nods quickly as though to say it was no big deal, but the way his muscles immediately release suggests that it was much more. Tino however, decides to say nothing. In attempt to make conversation, Tino asks cautiously, "So… how's business?" referring to Berwald's position as head of the major fishing industry in this small town.

Laughing almost inaudibly, he says, "T'no, ya do my f'nancing…"

"Right! I meant… well, you know… never mind," Tino sighs, giving up. Berwald however, doesn't seem put off by this.

"T'no… Ah… Well, th're's a p'rty Ah h've ta go to… ya kn'w, for w'rk… and ah…"

Tino automatically sees where this is going, and saves Berwald further difficulty in spitting it out. "Yes, I'll go with you," he says, leaning over Berwald's shoulder to give him a warm smile, which earns him the tiniest one back in response. Leaning back on the couch again, he asks curiously, trying not to sound too eager, "When is it?"

"Ah… T'morrow."

"Oh, I see… someone else cancelled, so I was a last resort?" Tino teases him, slowly kneading Berwald's back, just under his shoulder blades.

Berwald surprises him by exclaiming "No! 'F c'rse n't!"

Tino laughs out loud, taking his hands away from his back. "I'm kidding. Don't worry about it, you silly goose," Tino tells him playfully, lightly poking Berwald's face.

Berwald's lips twitch slightly, hinting at a smile. Berwald turns to face Tino, and says quietly, "Ah'll go 'n g't yer d'nner…"

"Thank you!" Tino exclaims, smiling in appreciation, and then quickly diverts his attention to the fraying fleece blanket, attempting to appear busy, and to hide the slight flush coating his cheeks. Why do I keep feeling like this when he does something nice for me? Tino asks himself. He shakes his head ever so slightly, as if to physically shake the thoughts out of his head. He couldn't possibly feel anything for him, could he? He looks up from the sofa to Berwald, to prove this theory, but to his surprise, Berwald has already left.

~~oOo~~

Berwald slowly ambles down the hallway, determined on wasting as much time as he possibly can. Not to say that he doesn't want to spend as much time with Tino as he possibly can… he just doesn't want to keep saying and doing awkward things around him.

Especially since the only thing he can think of doing around Tino is kissing him. Of course, the thought of doing much more than that with him as crossed his mind, but for now, resisting the urge just to brush his lips against the Finn's takes up too much of his mental capacity to even begin to think about that. He lets out an audible sigh as he ever so slowly puts his right foot in front of his left, and then repeats the process.

Why did Tino have to be so cute? So cute, that Berwald had loved him ever since that day in the market. Berwald himself couldn't have been more than fifteen. In fact, that was probably around the time when his aunt had begun to introduce him to girls. He had been totally oblivious to the fact that she had been introducing him to possible suitors. She had known about his curse, and was determined to end it as quickly as possible. Little did she know that each of those girls would become terrified after one look at Berwald, and that around that time, Berwald found that none of these girls interested him at all.

He didn't give this any thought though, no matter how much it seemed to bother his aunt. Until, of course, he saw Tino. His aunt had dragged him out shopping to 'greet the commoners' as she put it. She had always seemed to look down on everyone who didn't own a major corporation like she had inherited from her late husband, and now shared with her new spouse. And Berwald was expected to act the same, seeing as he would inherit it when she decided she was too old; of course, needless to say that she would still be receiving a considerable amount of retirement money from Berwald each month.

Anyway, that say in the market, he had seen a certain twelve year old Finn walking with whom he guessed was his father, and was holding his hand, despite his age. Berwald couldn't tear his eyes away from him. He didn't look at all manly like some twelve year olds will start to; in fact, he looked young and innocent, and ever so slightly feminine with his blonde hair that curled at the ends, and sparkly blue eyes, filled with childish excitement. Just watching him made his heart pound feverishly. That's when he knew, that he would probably never find any female, or maybe even male, that interested him as much as Tino.

Berwald sighs, figuring that he'd better pick up the pace so that Tino doesn't start to wonder where he is. He finally makes his way down to the kitchen, where he finds both of their dinners waiting for them, Mathias and Lukas nowhere to be found. Berwald shudders, as he can only guess why the two of them have gone off to bed this early. Shaking his head to clear the unnecessarily disturbing thoughts out of his head, he heads back up to his office, trying not to think too much about Tino, get distracted, and drop the dinner. Not that he would mind wasting another ten to fifteen minutes, but it really isn't fair to keep him waiting just because Berwald himself is too nervous about screwing things up and kissing him.

Taking a deep breath, the Swede cautiously steps inside the fire-lit room, to find Tino patiently waiting, making his heart start to pound erratically inside his chest. His stomach pangs with guilt from making him wait so long, so he quickly formulates an excuse in his head. "Ah… Ah h'd ta wait fer th'm to f'nish m'king it…"

"That's fine!" Tino replies, quickly accepting his story. Berwald releases a quiet whoosh of air in relief, and goes to hand Tino his dinner. However, when he reaches the couch, he hands him the plate, but isn't sure if he should leave a considerable amount of space between the two of them, and his eyes begin to look from Tino to the other end of the couch nervously.

This earns him an empathetic smile from Tino, and he reaches his arm up to grab Berwald's own much larger hand, and pulls him down on the cough right next to him. Berwald's heart starts to beat even faster. So fast, that Berwald is almost nervous that Tino can hear his heart beating from where he's sitting.

Don't look at his lips, Berwald reminds himself as he gradually sinks into the couch, relaxing a bit. Tino seems happy that Berwald is relaxing, and starts to eat his dinner contentedly. The Swede observes this from the corner of his eye, and finally decides to begin eating himself, not even realizing how hungry he is until he tastes the food. For two people that go at each other like rabbits, Lukas and Mathias certainly know how to cook. Well, at least Lukas does.

The two eat in an oddly comfortable silence, Berwald trying the entire time not to just reach over and kiss him so hard, he wouldn't know what hit him. Don't think that kind of thing! He commands himself. After Tino finishes his dinner, Berwald also puts down his half-finished one, and turns to Tino.

Just tell him how you feel! Berwald thinks to himself as the cute boy leans against Berwald and snuggles into his arm. The Swede can feel his face heat up considerably, and looks down to Tino, his mouth open, preparing just to tell the boy that he loves him. However, Tino's eyes are closed with his mouth slightly open, looking peaceful in his sleep.

Berwald just smiles ever so slightly and carries Tino bridal-style back to his own bedroom.

~~oOo~~

"Tino! Tino god damnit, if you don't get up right now, I will throw this chair at you!" he hears a voice yelling at him.

Slowly, he peels one eye open, to see Lukas standing over him, and true to his threat, holding a chair. "What?! What time is it?!" he asks nervously, looking out the window to see that the sun

"You slept in until five!" Lukas exclaims, still waving the chair around menacingly.

"What do you mean I slept in 'til five?" Tino asks, not sure why Lukas would be waking him up at five in the morning. How did that constitute as sleeping in? He rubs his eyes with his knuckles childishly, and stifles a yawn.

Lukas places a hand on his hip and sets the chair down next to the bed. "Tino, it's not five in the morning."  
"I slept in until five?" Tino asks incredulously, too stunned to even process how out of character that is for him. He silently mouthed the word 'wow', and blinks his eyes a few times to clear his vision. Suddenly, he remembers something and sits up quickly, slamming his brain against his skull. He moans in pain for a second, rubbing his forehead as if to sooth it. "What time is Berwald's party?"

"Six."

Tino lets out a little yelp and hops out of bed as fast as he possibly can, which taking into account his physical stature and abilities, is not very fast. "What do I wear?" he cries, looking around the room frantically.

"Relax, I picked out something of mine for you," Lukas says, smirking at Tino's panicked actions. He holds up a black tuxedo with white pinstripes, and a satiny red dress shirt with a black tie.

Tino gapes at it for a while. He's never even touched, let alone _owned_ anything that nice. "Can I really…?" is all he can manage to spit out, still in awe over the beautiful outfit.

"Just put it on. Berwald's waiting downstairs."

Tino blushes at this, imagining Berwald in a tux, and finding the image very appealing. "Umm, is the party here?" he asks, trying to find some way to inadvertently talk about Berwald with Lukas. He mentally smacks himself for thinking that about his boss, but he still feigns genuine curiosity anyway.

Lukas walks over to the door and stops to look at Tino. "Yes. And I'm sure Berwald will love you in that."

Tino's face heats up, and he starts sputtering, "Ah… b-bu… no, I mean…" Lukas just smirks and leaves the room, his face alight with mischief. "Wait!" Tino calls after him, "I don't like him!" He doesn't get a response, which leaves Tino sitting on his bed in complete mortification, and a bit of confusion too.

~~oOo~~

A/N: ASKLALKFJSLKFJSKLFFAKJLFAKLJ FAKLFJAKLFJAKLFKL…. JFDGKJALJF. LSHKF. GKJ;L. TLKF. GLK. LK. D.

THIS IS SO LATE. And my writing style changed. A lot. Did you notice? I didn't mean for it to happen… it just did. If you guys don't like it, I can try to revert back to writing like I used to!

AHhh this seems like such a filler! There was supposed to be action, or at least plot, and it will happen next chapter! I just didn't realize how long this one was getting o.o So sorry for this epic chapter of fail… it's so bad .

I'm gonna stop boldfacing the author's note… I kinda feel like it makes it intimidating to read or something o.o

Thanks so much for 50 followers! I love you guys for putting up with this crap ^w^

Reviews are love

~Alison


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